Showing Me the Moon

(A Terzanelle for Dr. Michael Castro, the first official St. Louis Poet Laureate)

 

 

showing me the moon

underwear too far down

I thought of him a loon

 

more harlequin than clown

the pattern was quite checkered

underwear too far down

 

I feared a sight soon peckered

lower and lower slid his pants

the pattern was quite checkered

 

his grab too often on his lance

got the lad excited

lower and lower slid his pants

 

too soon he was self-knighted

waddle waddle everywhere

got the lad excited

 

the question remained who would stare

waddle waddle everywhere

showing me the moon

I thought of him a loon

Published 2019 in the now-defunct Not Your Mother's Breast Milk blog

 

Waiting for What and When

 

 

Soon, a day will come

when I will look in the mirror and not know who I am

not recall how I got that scar above my eye

stare at photos, unable to place names on faces

 

Already, I am opening drawers filled with keys to

locked doors in buildings that have been demolished

 

Daily, I pass structures haunted by long kisses from

lovers whose lips have long abandoned me

 

Today, I pulled the cord on the bus, stood up

stood   out   standing   still   like a stilled life

and  did  not  think   at all

 

I smiled, charmingly

they like me more when I smile

Published 2018, Vallum, Memory and Loss issue, Vol. 15:1